New Jersey Civil Forfeiture

State of New Jersey v. One 1990 Ford ThunderbirdPolicing & Prosecuting for Profit: New Jersey Ex-Sheriff Fights Civil Forfeiture Abuse

IJ client Carol Thomas is challenging New Jersey's forfeiture laws after regaining title to her 1990 Ford Thunderbird.

New Jersey’s civil forfeiture law dangerously transforms law enforcement priorities from fair and impartial administration of justice to the pursuit of property and profit. New Jersey police departments and prosecutors’ offices are entitled to keep money and property confiscated through the state’s civil forfeiture law, thus giving them a direct financial stake in these forfeitures.

In State of New Jersey v. One 1990 Ford Thunderbird, former Cumberland County deputy sheriff Carol Thomas of Millville, N.J., sought to reform the State’s perverse forfeiture incentive scheme. Her case arose in 1999 when Thomas’s then 17-year-old son used her Thunderbird—without her knowledge or consent—to sell marijuana to an undercover officer. He was arrested, pleaded guilty to the charge and faced his punishment. But that did not end the matter. In addition to pursuing the criminal case, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office also pursued Thomas’s car in a civil forfeiture proceeding even though no drugs were found in the car, she bought the car with a bank loan, and she unquestionably was not aware of and did not consent to her son’s actions. Mrs. Thomas is an unlikely crusader because at the time of her son’s arrest, she was a seven-year veteran officer with the Sheriff’s Office. Thomas has subsequently left the force and is fighting abusive forfeiture laws.

Impartiality in civil and criminal proceedings is a bedrock principle of our justice system and is guaranteed by the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Institute for Justice won the return of Ms. Thomas’s title to her car and the trial judge ruled that the profit incentive at the core of New Jersey’s civil forfeiture violated her due process rights. Unfortunately, that ruling was overturned by the New Jersey Appellate Court.